European Stocks Down 1.5% for the Week

European stocks closed lower on Friday on the back of rising tensions between the United States and China.

Beijing has retaliated against a move by the US to close the Chinese consulate in Houston, Texas, and revoked the license of the US consulate in Chengdu.

In addition, tech sector stocks continued their downward trend.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed lower by 1.72% at 367.21, banishing all its weakly gains and registering weekly losses of nearly 1.5%.

FTSE100 settled lower by 1.4%, while CAC40 and DAX finished lower by 1.54% and 2.02%, respectively.